This page is dedicated to the awareness and preservation of some of my dear
animal helpers, the Snow Leopard, tigers and lions. The Snow Leopard
(Panthera Uncia) has a soft grey coat with a white belly. It's head and limbs
are marked with solid black or brown spots; body is covered with brown blotches
ringed with black, and a black streak runs down the back. It's tail is heavy with
fur and the bottom of the paws are covered with fur for protection against snow
and cold. The winter coat is lighter in color. It's head and body length is 47-59 inches,
while the tail is 31-39 inches long.

The Snow Leopard lives in mountain steppes and coniferous (pine/evergreen)
forest scrub at high altitudes (5900-18000 feet). They frequent the mountains in the
winter and move to meadows and rocky areas during the summer months.
They are mostly found in the high mountains of Central Asia, especially the
Himalayas, Altai and Hindu Kush. Snow leopards have a broad living range,
covering about 100 square miles because of the lack of abundant prey.

The Snow Leopard's diet consists of wild sheep, wild boar, gazelles, hares,
markhor, bobak, tahr, marmots, mice and deer. They stalk their prey and usually
spring from a distance of 20 to 50 feet. Snow Leopards are solitary creatures,
only pairing during the breeding season. They do not roar. Snow Leopards
are considered nocturnal, but seem to be most active in the early morning
and late afternoon. They den in rocky caverns and crevices.

Their breeding season is usually January-May, with gestation lasting 98-103 days.
Females will give birth to one to four young in the spring in a rocky shelter lined
with her fur. The young open their eyes at 7-9 days, eat solid food at 2 months
and follow their mother on hunts at three months. Cubs remain with the mother
through their first winter. Snow leopards have lived up to 15 years in captivity.

The biggest threat to the Snow Leopard are fur poachers, habitat loss, and humans.
Approximately only 4,000 to 7,000 snow leopards remain in 12 countries across central Asia.
For more information on the Snow Leopard and how to help protect this endangered species,
contact The International Snow Leopard Trust.

The big cats depend on YOU! It's simple. It's easy. Click daily on the link
below to save up to 5.2 acres of endangered big cat habitat. The site's
sponsors pay for your donation, so it's free for you! Forward this email to
all your friends so they can help too. Without you and your friends
clicking, we lose hundreds of opportunities to help protect endangered
felines and their habitat! Just click: here.
All donations go to the Wildlife Conservation Society's big cat protection
programs. If you sign up, you can double the amount of land you save with
your first click and can begin tracking how much habitat you personally
have helped protect. Care2.com http://Care2.com's Big Cats Race visitors have helped protect
over 13,000 sq. miles of big cat habitat already!

Environmental experts from five Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Nepal, along with
the Worldwide Fund for Nature, met in Nepal on December 13, 1998 to find a way to save the tiger. At the turn of the 20th century, there were an estimated 100,000 tigers in the wild. Now there are a maximum 7,000, the most common of which is Royal Bengal at around 5,000.
Sadly, the Bali, Javan and Caspian tigers have all become extinct in the last 70 years.
Efforts are being made to conserve the tiger at a regional level. Officials say a dead tiger is worth more than $100,000, its bones in especially high demand in East Asia for medicinal purposes. Please visit the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

Good news - May 24, 2005: Snow leopards have been spotted trapsing on Mount Everest! This is the first time in forty years
scientists have seen them in this area, and it makes us hopeful. The current numbers show that there are an estimated 4,500-7,000 snow leapards left in
the wild. But that population is spread across 12 countries and nearly 775,000 square miles. This habitat includes some of the most remote regions of the world, from Afghanistan, across the Himalayas, to Lake Baikal in south central Russia. Conservation groups have tried to come up with education programs to discourage local herders from killing snow leopards, by improving herding techniques and coming up with more effective ways of guarding their animals. Each day I click
to help save the wild cats - particularly the snow leopard. You can take action, too, at http://www.care2.com and you can help other species in
danger.

In 2006, Pakistan is very aware of the extreme need to protect and conserve the Snow Leopard. They have now
fitted at least one leopard with a tracking device to learn more about them and follow them. Here is an article
from ENN about it.

Logging, building, farming and poaching have virtually killed off the Amur Leopard, environmentalists said April, 18, 2007. There are only 25 to 34 of the graceful animals still living in the wild, WWF said at a news briefing in Moscow to report on the results of a census of leopard numbers in Russia's Far East. At least 100 would be needed to guarantee the species' survival. "The numbers are very disappointing and the long-term prospects are that they will not be able to survive unless urgent measures are taken," said Igor Chestin, head of WWF in Russia. He said he had hoped to report at least 35 leopards. Chinese medicine substitutes crushed leopard bones for tiger bones in some of its remedies, creating demand for the cat.